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Former Liverpool defender Henchoz takes over as coach at struggling Swiss side Neuchatel

Neuchatel Xamax, currently sitting bottom of Switzerland's top football division, have changed coach in the hope they can avoid relegation to the second league.

Published: 6 February 2019 09:29 CET
Former Liverpool defender Henchoz takes over as coach at struggling Swiss side Neuchatel
Former Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers defender Stephan Henchoz (l) faces Didier Drogba in a match in 2007. Photo: Carl De Souza/AFP.

Former Liverpool centre-back Stephane Henchoz has been given his first job as a head coach at Neuchatel Xamax, the Swiss club announced on Tuesday February 5th.

The 44-year-old, who started his career at Neuchatel, takes over a side struggling to avoid relegation from the Swiss Super League, sitting bottom of the top flight. Neuchatel are in 10th place, with 13 points from 19 games.

The club has fallen a long way off the pace since its peak years of being back-to-back Swiss Super League champion in 1987 and 1988. 

“The club management believes that it is necessary to create an electroshock in the team in order to approach the next major deadlines with new energy,” Neuchatel Xamas said in a statement.

Stéphane Henchoz remplace Michel Decastel à la tête de Neuchâtel Xamax FCShttps://t.co/odblbhOnXp

— Neuchâtel Xamax FCS (@XamaxFCS) February 5, 2019

Henchoz's mandate is to save the club from relegation and keep the club in Switzerland's premier football division, the Raiffeisen Super League. Neuchatel still face tough fixtures against league leaders Young Boys and second-placed Basel. 

Henchoz replaces former Switzerland midfielder Michel Decastel, having previously been the assistant coach.

Decastel had managed Neuchatel Xamas since 2015 and the departure seems not have been easy one for the club.

“Michel Decastel was one of the great comeback kings, he is a legend of the club, a friend and an important member of the Xamaxian family. The Neuchâtelois thank him from the bottom of their heart for all he has brought. However, the future of Neuchâtel Xamax FCS takes precedence over all emotional considerations,” added the club in its statement. 

The former Swiss national Henchoz, who will replace Decastel, played 205 matches in six years for Liverpool after joining the English giants in 1999, winning four major titles, and also made 72 international appearances.

Henchoz retired in 2008 from playing after leaving Blackburn Rovers for a second time. 

READ MORE: Football: Switzerland to face Portugal in Nations League semis

SWITZERLAND EXPLAINED

Why are so many international sporting organisations based in Switzerland?

Switzerland has been rocked by the news that FIFA has amended its rules to allow the possible moving of its headquarters from Zurich. However, it’s hardly the only international sporting organisation based in Switzerland. Why is that the case? 

Published: 17 May 2024 14:38 CEST
Why are so many international sporting organisations based in Switzerland?

Swiss media reports that FIFA laid the groundwork for a potential exit from the city via a vote held Friday, May 17th, during the body’s congress in Bangkok, that changed its governing statutes. 

Despite this move, FIFA has announced it’s ‘happy’ to remain in Zurich.

Even after a potential departure, Switzerland would still claim to be the world’s centre for sports.

In all over 70 organisations overseeing international sports have headquarters in the country. 

Of course, the most famous is the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which was founded in Lausanne by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, in 1915. 

READ MORE: What is the secret to Switzerland’s Olympic success?

In the century that followed, several other organisations related to the Olympics and the governing bodies of several popular sports have also based themselves in the lakeside city. 

The World Archery Federation, the International Boxing Association, European Gymnastics, World Triathlon, and several other bodies are based in Lausanne, which is close to the IOC. 

Lausanne is also home to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which seeks to mediate sporting disputes. At the same time, the World Anti-Doping Agency was headquartered there until 2002. 

Outside of Lausanne, the International Ice Hockey Federation is headquartered in Zurich. Basketball’s peak body, FIBA, is based in Basel, as is Europe’s football governing body, UEFA. 

An attractive base

Switzerland is the logical base for world sporting associations for the same reasons international diplomatic and scientific bodies such as the United Nations, the International Red Cross, and the World Health Organisation call the country home. 

First and foremost, Switzerland is the world’s oldest completely neutral country, recognised as such by the international community in 1815. It is not allied with any other significant power. It has stayed out of all the major world conflicts of the twentieth century. 

Switzerland also enjoys an attractive location at Europe’s ‘crossroads’, centrally located and with land borders adjoining several European powers. 

With four official languages, operating an international body within the country is more accessible, thanks to existing linguistic resources. 

In the end, however, money talks. 

The canton of Vaud, where Lausanne is located, does not tax international sporting organisations. Swiss law ostensibly treats them in much the same way as amateur sporting clubs.

There are no requirements to publish financial records, and there are very few other statutes to which they must adhere in their day-to-day operations.

Of course, this has raised the spectre of corruption – in just the last few years, the International Fencing Federation, the swimming governing body FINA and the IOC have been scrutinised over alleged bribes, kickbacks and links to Russian oligarchs. 

Most notably, FIFA itself was the centre of a corruption scandal in  involving its former head, Sepp Blatter, in 2015, 

While the Swiss government has yet to respond with legal changes to help preserve its image, some organisations are already working to prevent scrutiny. 

Most notably, the IOC and related bodies began publishing their financial accounts in 2015, while FIFA introduced a new ‘Code of Ethics’ last year. 

Several individuals also thought to be linked to bribes have also been disqualified from serving with their assoicated organisations. 

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